Vegetarian Nacho Bake

One of my favourite meals to have is nachos. Who doesn’t love their crunchy chips, saucy spicy and cheesy goodness?? Anyone??? I know you do too! I have recently fell in love with this vegetarian version as one of my best friends became vegetarian and the idea of not having beef nachos made me confused and sad. Until we made this incredible recipe together.

I love it because it is easy to feed a crowd, it keeps the corn tortilla chips nice and crunchy and most importantly it is a meatless meal that is vegetarian friendly!! Say no more make this for your next dinner or gathering and you won’t be sorry!! I honestly don’t miss the meat in this dish because the beans are so full of protein and the spices of the sauce are beautiful!!

Ingredients:

- 800g canned red kidney beans drained and rinsed under cold water.

- 400g canned black beans drained and rinsed under cold water

- 1 Large brown onion, diced

- 3-4 Tbsp tomato paste

- 1 large carrot, diced

- 2 stalks of celery, diced

- 2 garlic cloves, crushed

- 800g Crushed tomatoes (canned)

- 1 large red capsicum, cored, de-seeded and diced

- 1 vegetable stock cube

- Approx. 150g grated cheese (let's be honest we shouldn’t give a measurement for this you are going to put on as much cheese as you like for this one :D )

- Approx. 500g Tortilla corn chips

- 1 Tbsp olive oil for frying.

- Salt and pepper to taste

Spices

- 1 Tbsp ground cumin

- 1 tsp onion powder

- 1 tsp Garlic powder

- ½ tsp dried or ground coriander

- 1 Tbsp smoked paprika

- (optional) pinch of chilli powder, add this to suit your taste.

Equipment

- Knife

- Oven

- Baking dish

- Large frying pan with high edges

- Spatula

You want your veggies to be cut all the same size, if you have fussy eaters then I'd actually recommend grating your veggies because they cook beautifully into the sauce and kids don't know the difference!

But to dice, your veggies just make sure to wash them and then slice them lengthwise and then into strips then dice into small squares

Note for the capsicum, make sure you de-seed them as shown above.

1.

In a large frying pan heat your olive oil on a medium-high heat and brown your onions with ½ tsp salt (adding the salt helps bring out any excess moisture from the onions to brown then quicker). This should take about 5 or so minutes.

Once the onions are browned, add your garlic and cook for about 1 minute until fragrant then add the carrot and celery and cook for 1 minute until soft. Then add the capsicum, beans, crushed tomatoes, stock cube, spices, tomato paste and salt and pepper, mix then bring the heat up to a high to boil. As soon as it is boiling, reduce the heat to a low simmer, place the lid on and cook for between 15-20 minutes until the vegetables have softened.

Once your bean mixture is cooked and seasoned to your liking and place it in the bottom of your baking dish and evenly spread it out. Then add your tortilla chips on top (this helps keep the chips nice and crunchy, of course, you can layer these like a lasagne but the lower layers of chips will become soggy when baking). Top with your cheese (as much as your heart desires) and then bake in your preheated oven at 180 degrees Celcius (fan-forced) (355 degrees Fahrenheit) for between 10-15 minute or until your cheese is golden, bubbly brown.

Once cooked allow it to cool for a couple of minutes then serve! This is great for potluck parties, dinner or snacks!! You can always serve with sour cream and freshly chopped chives or spring onions to liven it up too!